A Vancouver man who killed his ex-girlfriend and her daughter will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Clark County Superior Court Judge David Gregerson handed Kirkland Warren, 28, a life term in prison without the possibility of parole for the double homicide of Meshay Melendez, 27, and her daughter, Layla Stewart, 7. Warren pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated murder, second-degree murder, and first-degree child molestation.
“Any possibly of this being some horrific accident or being mitigated in any way is squarely contravened by the depraved way in which Meshay and Layla’s bodies were disposed of by this defendant,” said Gregerson, according to FOX 12.
On March 22, 2023, officers responded to a rural area in nearby Washougal after someone caught a glimpse of two bodies and assumed they were mannequins. Later, an autopsy report showed Melendez suffered a gunshot wound to the left side of her temple, while her daughter, who was found naked from the waist down, died from two gunshots to the head and sexually assaulted by Warren. Furthermore, the autopsy revealed both victims were fatally shot with the same gun.
The day I lost them, I lost a part of myself. A part of me died with my girls. I am no longer a girl mom. I am no longer a grandmother,” said Melendez’s mother, Nichole Norris, reported People.
During the investigation, one of the defendant’s accomplices told authorities they had seen Melendez passed out in the passenger seat of Warren’s car before the defendant took her daughter from the accomplice’s home and drove off. Both mother and daughter were last seen near Vancouver Mall Drive and Northeast 77th Avenue on March 12, 2023.
Warren was initially identified as a person of interest. As a result, authorities arrested the defendant for a parole violation, a witness tampering charge, and a violation of a no-contact order due to a protection order filed and approved for Melendez. The defendant had pressured the victim to drop the charges after he shot up her apartment and assaulted her.
Hundreds of people paid their respect to Melendez and her daughter at Esther Short Park in Washougal days after their bodies were found.
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